By Tyler Jiang, Blogger for East Asian Affairs
On March 10, 2017, China sent 140 peacekeeping police officers for a yearlong deployment to Liberia as part of United Nations peacekeeping operations. Deployments from China are becoming increasingly common as the country becomes more involved in peacekeeping in Africa. Since joining the United Nations in 1971, China has contributed 2,594 personnel to over a dozen UN peacekeeping operations.[1] But China was not always this supportive of UN operations.
It is only since the beginning of the 21st Century that has China stepped up and given its full support to the United Nations Peacekeeping Corp: 2,458 personnel out of China’s total of 2594 troops were deployed after the year 2000.[2] This increased participation in UN peacekeeping is part of Xi Jinping’s concerted effort to reassert Chinese power abroad, especially in Africa. Since taking office, President Xi has stated that China will commit 8000 soldiers towards a UN peacekeeping standby taskforce – in addition to donating $100 million to help the African Union boost its crisis response and establishing its own standby force.[3] Distributed across nine different UN Missions ranging from Haiti to Afghanistan to South Sudan, China’s contribution is certainly making Beijing’s presence known.
But, after decades of maintaining a low profile, what motivates China to increase its participation in UN activities? Besides enforcing peace in Africa, China may have its own ulterior motives as well. As Africa’s largest trade partner, China has many economic interests in the continent, such as expatriates working in Africa and vital oil resources. By providing peacekeepers, China is not only protecting its citizens and companies in the region, but also the development of its “One Belt, One Road,” economic initiative. This initiative seeks to boost Chinese trade with Europe, Africa, and the Middle East through recreating the historical Silk Road by land and sea. The missions also afford China the opportunity give its large but relatively inexperienced military some “on the job” training.[4]
China’s strategy – winning hearts and minds – is anything but new. China’s peacekeeping forces are not there to stay, but provide much needed security and supplies to those who need it.[5] Not only does this mission secure Chinese economic interests, but is also boosting China’s soft power in Africa, which is already at an all-time high since China has provided generous aid donations and economic projects aimed at developing African countries. This gives China a serious advantage in the region as Western countries scorn peacekeeping initiatives due to domestic resistance towards placing their own soldiers under an independent and ostensibly inefficient command. Thus, it is possible that Africans will come to see Beijing as the true defender and supporter of developing nations as Chinese peacekeepers help those in need. Not only will China win the hearts and minds of the people of Africa, it will further its own agenda as well.
Tyler Jiang is a junior at Rowan University studying International Studies and History, and is studying abroad at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China for the Spring and Summer of 2017.
[1] United Nations Peacekeeping, “Troop and police contributors,” United Nations, updated January 31, 2017 (Accessed March 11, 2017). http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/resources/statistics/contributors.shtml.
[2] Xinhua News Agency, “Chinese peacekeepers depart for Liberia,” Xinhua.net, (March 10, 2017), http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-03/10/c_136119306.htm
[3] David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina, “China’s Xi says to commit 8000 troops for U.N. peacekeeping force,” Reuters, (Sep 25, 2015) http://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-assembly-china-idUSKCN0RS1Z120150929.
[4] Courtney J. Fung, “China’s Troop Contributions to U.N. Peacekeeping,” United States Institute of Peace, (July 26, 2016) https://www.usip.org/publications/2016/07/chinas-troop-contributions-un-peacekeeping.
[5] Karen Allen, “What China hopes to achieve with first peacekeeping mission,” BBC, (Dec 2, 2015) http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34976580.
